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Breath Collection from Children for Disease Biomarker Discovery
Published on: February 14, 2019
Volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath as a diagnostic tool for asthma in children
J W Dallinga1, C M H H T Robroeks, J J B N van Berkel
1Department of Health Risk Analysis and Toxicology, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. j.dallinga@grat.unimaas.nl
Insights
Diagnosing childhood asthma is challenging. Analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOC) in exhaled breath can accurately distinguish between asthmatic children and healthy controls using a novel diagnostic approach.
Area of Science:
- Respiratory Medicine
- Analytical Chemistry
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Accurate asthma diagnosis in children is difficult, leading to undertreatment or overtreatment.
- Transient wheezing in children often complicates accurate asthma diagnosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a diagnostic tool for distinguishing asthma from transient wheezing in children.
- To establish a method for differentiating asthmatic children from healthy controls using breath analysis.
Main Methods:
- Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze volatile organic compounds (VOC) in breath samples.
- Discriminant analysis was applied to identify VOCs differentiating asthmatic children (n=63) from healthy controls (n=57).
- A predictive model was constructed and validated on a test group.
Main Results:
- Discriminant analysis confirmed distinct VOC profiles between asthmatic and healthy children.
- Eight VOC components accurately classified 92% of cases, with 89% sensitivity and 95% specificity.
- The developed model demonstrated strong predictive value for asthma status.
Conclusions:
- A limited set of VOCs in exhaled breath can effectively differentiate children with asthma from healthy children.
- This breath analysis technique shows promise as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for childhood asthma.
- Further development could lead to improved asthma diagnosis, reducing undertreatment and overtreatment.
Background:
The correct diagnosis of asthma in young children is often hard to achieve, resulting in undertreatment of asthmatic children and overtreatment in transient wheezers.
Objectives:
To develop a new diagnostic tool that better discriminates between asthma and transient wheezing and that leads to a more accurate diagnosis and hence less undertreatment and overtreatment. A first stage in the development of such a tool is the ability to discriminate between asthmatic children and healthy controls. The integrative analysis of large numbers of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in exhaled breath has the potential to discriminate between various inflammatory conditions of the respiratory tract.
Methods:
Breath samples were obtained and analysed for VOC by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry from asthmatic children (n=63) and healthy controls (n=57). A total of 945 determined compounds were subjected to discriminant analysis to find those that could discriminate diseased from healthy children. A set of samples from both asthmatic and healthy children was selected to construct a model that was subsequently used to predict the asthma or the healthy status of a test group. In this way, the predictive value of the model could be tested.
Measurements And Main Results:
The discriminant analyses demonstrated that asthma and healthy groups are distinct from one another. A total of eight components discriminated between asthmatic and healthy children with a 92% correct classification, achieving a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 95%. Conclusion The results show that a limited number of VOC in exhaled air can well be used to distinguish children with asthma from healthy children.
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